Category: Podcasts

“Everything in tech is incremental, whether you’re building an app, you’re doing agile, you’re starting with something. You’re starting with an MVP and you’re incrementing on that. If you take that approach to learning you get away from this gatekeeper idea of you’ve got “it” or you don’t have “it”… you start where you’re at and then with every student you increment on that and you build a little bit each day.”

Rebecca Conley made the career switch from education to software development in 2014 by attending the first immersive code academy in her hometown of Durham, NC. Since then, she has worked as a Django developer, served on the Board of Directors of the Django Software Foundation, and spoken at Python and Django conferences across the U.S., Europe, and Africa. Rebecca holds Master’s degrees in Education and Business, and is passionate about the intersection of education and entrepreneurship in empowering people and promoting social change. She is happy to be back to her roots as an educator, helping Momentum students launch promising new career paths. Rebecca is a tap dancer and teaches dance in Durham as well. Her biggest joy as an educator is helping students find their own strengths and tools for success.

“And now some of you sit looking at me and now you feel uncomfortable. But today you have heard me. You can not unsee me. In this space I belong we belong here, in this space.”

Hannah L Drake is a blogger, activist, public speaker, poet, and the author of 9 books. She writes commentary on politics, feminism, and race and her work has been featured in Cosmopolitan Magazine. In 2019 during Super Bowl Sunday, Hannah’s poem, “All You Had To Do Was Play The Game, Boy,”which addresses the protest by Colin Kaepernick, was shared by film writer, producer and director Ava DuVernay, and then shared by Kaepernick. The poem has been viewed more than two million times.

Hannah was selected by the Muhammad Ali Center to be a Daughter of Greatness which features prominent women engaged in social philanthropy, activism, and pursuits of justice. Hannah has presented at the Idea Festival, curated performances for the Festival of Faiths, partnered with The Louisville Ballet for their Choreographer’s Showcase, shared the stage with activist Angela Davis, and exhibited her visual art and poetry at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft and 1619 Flux. Her poem “Spaces” was selected by the National Academy of Medicine as 1 of 30 pieces of art that speak to health equity. Hannah was selected as a 2017 Hadley Creative by the Community Foundation of Louisville and Creative Capital and her work has been honored by the Kentucky Alliance of Against Racist and Political Repression and

Hannah Drake was featured on the Tom Joyner Morning Show with Jacque Reid to discuss her movement, “Do Not Move Off The Sidewalk,” which addresses the power of holding your space. Hannah’s message is thought-provoking and at times challenging, however, Hannah believes that change dwells in the realm of the uncomfortable. “My sole purpose in writing and speaking is not that I entertain you. I am trying to shake a nation.”

“The larger point is that experience at-scale does change culture, because experience at-scale IS culture.”

Kate O’Neill is founder and Chief Tech Humanist of KO Insights, a thought leadership and advisory firm helping companies, organizations, and cities make future-aligned meaningful decisions based on human behavior and data. A prolific writer and author, her fourth book is Tech Humanist: How You Can Make Technology Better for Business and Better for Humans. Kate speaks regularly at industry conferences and private events, providing keynotes, participating in panel discussions, and leading creative brainstorming workshops for groups of all sizes. Her expertise has been featured in CNN Money, TIME, Forbes, USA Today, Men’s Journal, the BBC, and other national and international media.

Kate’s prior roles include creating the first content management role at Netflix, leading cutting-edge online optimization work at Magazines.com, developing Toshiba America’s first intranet, building the first departmental website at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and holding leadership positions in a variety of digital content and technology start-ups. She was also founder & CEO of [meta]marketer, a digital strategy and analytics agency. Kate is a vocal and visible advocate for the greater inclusion of underrepresented people in technology, entrepreneurship, and leadership — she was featured by Google in the launch of their global campaign for women in entrepreneurship.

“The problem isn’t Jewishness or Jews. The problem is when Jews start to act like and live as and be a part of the power of whiteness. And therefore get the power to move the levers of white supremacy in their favor.”

Professor Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Assistant Professor ofPhysics and Astronomyand Core Faculty Member inWomen’s Studiesat theUniversity of New Hampshire. I am also leadaxionwrangler and social media team member for the NASASTROBE-XProbeConcept Study. My driving impulse: understand the origin of spacetime and the particles that populate it. Using ideas from both physics and astronomy, I respond to deep questions about how everything got to the be the way it is. The Disordered Cosmos, my popular science book which draws from my experience and knowledge as a Black American theoretical physicist, is forthcoming fromNation Books. (My name is pronounced phonetically like “Chahnda Prescod-Winestine.”)